The Fourth Avatar: Yuriko
by Avield
Summary: This is the tale of the fourth Avatar, Yuriko, and like Korra, what she did to change the world forever…


Air... Water... Earth... Fire.

Long ago, the fire nation was ruled by the Sun Emperor.  
Then, everything changed when a slave claimed to have his child.  
Abandoned to die, Yuriko was soon recovered and then raised by dragons, but when she got old enough, they left her.  
A fully realized Avatar, but abandoned by everyone, Yuriko became a hermit. And although she wished to be alone, misfortune and fate would not leave her be, as a terrifying plaque began to engulf the world.  
But as history has shown us, even the tiniest spark, can become a roaring flame.

This is the tale of the fourth Avatar, Yuriko, and like Korra, what she did to change the world forever…

Before the death of Del, the fire nation was a peaceful , but stubborn nation. Ruled by the Sun Emperor, the fire nation chose to isolate itself from the rest of the world, unless absolutely necessary. Guarding the Eternal Flame, every fire nation citizen was bound by a universal code of honor and taught to be warriors before anything else.

The Sun Emperor was notorious for his cheating, but to challenge the Sun Emperor was suicide. A powerful warrior, the Sun Emperor did what he wanted, whenever he wanted.

One day, a slave approached the Sun Emperor in secrecy, carrying with her a weak child. Claiming the child to be his, the Emperor was disgusted at the very idea of having a low born weakling ascend the throne. He ordered to the slave to secretly dispose of the child and the slave reluctantly agreed.

Fearing the worst for her child, but also fearful of her own life, the slave put her child on a well-known trail, hoping the child would be picked up and raised. To ensure the child would eventually learn of her heritage the slave branded the child's back with her family's symbol.

For two full days, nobody came across the child on the trail and the future looked grim for the young avatar.

Luckily, fate was on the child's side and she was discovered by a large blue female dragon. Sensing a great spiritual power within the child, the dragon took the child and decided to raise her as if she was her own offspring. Amazed by the human child's ability to breathe fire, the rest of the dragon's horde accepted the child and took care of her. They taught her to how to defend herself, how to cook, how to communicate, and how live off the land.

This continued for 10 years, until one day, while the child and the blue dragon were the bathing, she bent the water to splash the dragon. Surprised by this, the blue dragon decided to take the child to the matriarch, to decide her fate. A wise dragon, the matriarch decided that the human child must leave the horde and be with her kind. Personally teaching the child the human's language, the dragons flew her to the edge of fire nation village and left her.

Walking into the village, she was greeted with kindness and acceptance by the villagers, but when asked her name, she was silent. She had never needed names and as a child, never had one. She was simply known by the dragons as the one who could move the water, earth, and air. Afraid of what might happen to her, the child bended all four elements in front of the villagers like she had done in front of the matriarch dragon. Amazed that the avatar was standing before them, the village reported to the Sun Emperor that they had the fire nation avatar.

Immediately the Sun Emperor set out for the small village, but when he arrived, he was appalled. How could such a disgusting and poorly educated child be the avatar? Demanding an explanation, the village said that she appeared out of nowhere and had showed them her power when asked for her name. Fearful of what the world would think, The Sun Emperor took it upon himself to raise the child to be proper, but this was short lived as he soon found the mark of the slave upon her back. The Sun Emeperor quickly burned the marked off, but soon found himself unable to raise the dangerously wild child. Naming her after his great grandmother, Yuriko, the Sun Emperor consulted his brother about what to do with the child who could be his successor.

Yuriko's uncle told the Sun Emperor that she would bring nothing but to disgrace to the kingdom as both the successor to the fire nation crown and the avatar. He could easily keep the emergence of the avatar secret from the world and simply claim that she died of a mysterious illness.

Luckily for Yuriko, a White Lotus agent heard of this plan and grabbed Yuriko before the plan could be executed. Raising her in secret, the Order of the White Lotus taught her until she turned 22. Now, fully capable of supporting herself and fluent in the common language, Yuriko decided to become a hermit, as the world didn't really need the avatar.

As a hermit, Yuriko reflected her life while living a life of tranquility and peace, until she discovered two abandoned twins in the same basket. Young boys, the two had been abandoned by their parents for some unknown reason. Feeling the need to do what the dragons had done for her, Yuriko decided to raise the twins as her own, teaching them what the dragons and the Order of the White Lotus had taught her.

Naming them Jeong and Tsuo, the two became master fire benders and were practically inseparable. Invited to become members of the Order of The White Lotus, Yuriko was proud of her sons and planned to remain a hermit until death, but fate was not done with Yuriko.

Emerging from an unknown earth kingdom village, the world faced the worst tragedy it would ever see. Infecting people by the thousands, a plague engulfed the planet, transforming whole villages into ghost towns. The whole world panicked as it even claimed the life of the invincible Sun Emperor. Informed by the order of what was happening, Yuriko ended her hermitage and sought out Wan Shi Tong for a cure.

Completely ignoring her pleas for help, Wan Shi Tong told her that the plague would eventually end, but Yuriko didn't give up. Demanding a cure, Wan Shi Tong warned her of the consequences of such knowledge, but she didn't care.

Bluntly, Wan Shi Tong told her that the cure was dragons blood.

Unable to hunt the dragons, which had taught the world fire bending and saved her as a child, Yuriko was conflicted about what to do. Sitting next to the Eternal Flame, Yuriko mediated on this predicament. Unable to come to a decision, Yuriko decided to ask the one person who might have an answer . . . the spirit of the sun.

Known from the other spirits as a being of great temper and pride, Yuriko told the sun spirit of her frustrating dilemma. Amused by her passion and will, the sun spirit gave Yuriko two options.

The first option was be to transform her uncle into a dragon and sacrifice him. She would save the world, but only one-sixteenth of humanity would survive.

The second option was be to transform one of her "adopted" sons into a dragon and sacrifice him. She would save the world and be rid of the worst Sun Emperors the world would ever see.

Unable to accept these options and consumed with anger at herself, Yuriko attacked the sun spirit using all her power. Surprised by her ability to actually harm him, the Sun Spirit decided to give her a third option. Using his powers he could transform Yuriko into a dragon and allowing her to sacrifice herself. She would be able save the world, but as a result, would plunge it further into darkness.

Knowing full well of the consequences, Yuriko agreed to this and awoke in the physical world. Doing exactly what the sun spirit told her, Yuriko walked into the Eternal Flame and emerged from it a huge yellow dragon, with scales like glittering gold and wings brighter than any flame.

Using her new body, Yuriko traveled to each body of water, depositing a little bit of her blood in the water. With immense will and drive, Yuriko cleansed the world of the disease, but died of blood loss and exhaustion.

Crowned the new Sun Emperor and made head of the Order of The White Lotus, Jeong and Tsuo allowed the dragons to cremate her body and buried her on her favorite field.

Rumor has it that the first fire lily grew from her grave and that the dragons spread the fire lily's seeds across the world to remind the world of her sacrifice.

(The Sun Emperor was the leader of the fire nation before the fire nation split and created the position Fire Lord)  
(Yuriko was a big tom boy in her life, which is why she doesn't look very lady like)  
(STOP ASKING ME THIS! No, the blue dragon is not Shaw. The blue dragon was Shaw's mother. She was later hunted down, when the fire nation started hunting dragons)


End file.
